A couple that we tend to go out for dinner with suggested the restaurant Mabel Gray for an evening out.  My Bride and I first discovered Chef James Rigato when he had a charming restaurant in a strip center years ago called Root in White Lake Township.  He also was in a documentary film with another chef that we have followed Luciano Del Signore called a “Dinner in Abruzzo: A Journey Home with My Culinary Godfather.” I had been hesitant to try the restaurant, not because of the quality, but because there was this veil of mystery involving the menu and the tasting menu.  I have been a fan of tasting menus since my first with Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, followed by the likes of Jean Georges and Daniel Boulud.  The difference being that they published their tasting menu ahead of time, so that one could be concerned if they have food allergies or dislikes.  I sent an email for some clarification and was told that if I had a problem, it could be corrected that evening.    

The other couple and my Bride all went with “Tasting Menu” and I just ordered a couple of dishes from the menu, so I will only discuss my two meals.  When I asked our server what was going to be on the “Tasting Menu” that evening, she just looked at me and sneered “you will have to wait and be surprised, evidently you have never had a ‘tasting menu’ before” and chastised and belittled me at the table.  I was totally humiliated, but I tried not to ruin the evening for everyone else.  So, for my first course I had the Michigan Heirloom Tomato Salad, Nuoc Cham, cucumber, crispy tempura, shishito pepper, and herbs, but I asked not to have whipped tofu.  I had a glass of Bodega Ulacia Blanco Getariako Txakolina DO, Spain 2023.  Bodega Ulacia has been making wines for three generations in Getaria, the birthplace of Getariako Txakolina DO.  In 1989 the regulatory Council was created for the Txakolina DO and in 1990 the Getariako Txakolina DO was approved.  The word txakoli is Basque for wine village. They built a new winery in 2009.  The wine is a blend of ninety-five percent Hondarribi Zuri and five percent Hondarribi Beltza, and the vine are between five and sixty years of age.  The fruit is hand harvested, and pneumatic presses are used to extract the must, which is then fermented in Stainless-Steel temperature-controlled tanks. After a couple of months, the wine is bottled.  The wine is straw colored with natural effervescent sparkle and offers notes of tropical fruits and citrus, herbs and yeast.  On the palate this light-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of fizzy lemon and pineapple, a very crisp wine that ended with a medium-count finish of fruit, yeast and minerals.

In between my two courses, I had the pleasure to meet the Sommelier at the restaurant and she was trying to have me join their Champagne Society, but I was still fuming about the insult that I took, so I really wasn’t interested in future activity with Mabel Gray.  Our “waitress” told us that a lamb entrée was only offered to the Tasting Menu customers, so my Bride offered me that dish, but I also ordered their Griddled Baja Blue Fin Tuna with summer peperonata, crispy potato, arugula and herb salad.  My Bride had also booked the dinner, telling them that I was having a birthday and the restaurant also sent out their version of a Baked Alaska, that we all shared.   The wine list paled in comparison to the Champagne Society selection, but I opted for a red, in anticipation of the lamb entrée, and it was good that my dish was to be shared for two.  I ordered a glass of Paolo Scavino Langhe Nebbiolo DOC 2022.   Paolo Scavino was founded in 1921 in Castiglione Falletto by Lorenzo Sacavino and his son Paolo.  Enrico Scavino has been working at the winery sine 1951, at the age of ten, and he now manages the estate with his daughters, who are now the fourth generation.  The estate has twenty-three hectares entirely in Barolo, including lots in nineteen different Cru Vineyards. The Langhe Nebbiolo is pure Nebbiolo grapes coming from sites that the winery says enhances the more ethereal Nebbiolo aromatics and structure.  The wine undergoes fermentation at a low temperature, to ensure a soft extraction.  The wine then has a short period in neutral oak and then finishes the aging in Stainless-Steel to preserve the freshness of the grapes. The ruby-red wine offered notes of red cherry, raspberry and strawberries along with violets, white pepper and herbs, licorice and sous-bois.  On the palate the medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of cherry, raspberry, strawberry, plum, blueberry, and spices blending with supple tannins and ending with a medium-count finish of fruit, florals and terroir.